On January 31,
Mylon L. Stockton, 36, of Noblesville , Indiana , was ordered to
pay a total of $90,000 for violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection
Act. Stockton ’s co-defendant, Mark A. Borinsky, 39, of North
Port , Florida , has been fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to
a similar offense. Both defendants were placed on probation for one
year after being sentenced by U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore
in Tampa , Florida.

According to public real
estate records, Borinsky purchased a piece of property in Venice
, Florida in November 2002 for approximately $59,000. According
to the criminal information filed in this case, Borinsky and Stockton
went onto Borinsky’s property in Venice
, Florida , on November 27, 2002 . According to the charges, Borinsky
attempted to cut down a pine tree containing an eagle nest which
was visible from beneath the tree. Under the Bald and Golden Eagle
Protection Act the presence of an eagle nest may result in restrictions
on the use of, or removal of trees from, the vicinity of the nest.
The tree began to fall but toppled on another tree. It stayed standing
at an angle with Borinsky’s chainsaw stuck in the trunk. A
neighbor told the two men the tree contained an eagle’s nest
and that it was illegal to cut the tree down. Stockton ignored the
neighbor and used his car jack to lift the tree trunk and free his
chainsaw This caused the nest tree to dislodge from the other tree
and fall to the ground. Stockton and Borinsky then cut several additional
trees down on top of the nest tree destroying it.

The prosecutor explained
during the sentencing that most of the funds Stockton was ordered
to pay represent the profit realized when the property, by then
without the eagle nest, was resold for about $150,000 in April
of 2004, about two and a half times the price paid when the nest
was still on the property in November 2002. Stockton was sentenced
to the same $10,000 fine as Borinsky but was also sentenced to
community service consisting of a $40,000 donation to the National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation Florida Bald Eagle Conservation Fund
and a $40,000 donation to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey.

A
single violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is
a misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is one year imprisonment and
a fine of either $100,000, or twice the financial gain or loss
caused by the offense.

The investigation was
conducted by Special Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and Law Enforcement Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission. The case was prosecuted by the Environmental
Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Middle District of Florida.

The U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife
and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National
Wildlife Refuge System that encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands
of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates
70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices, and 81
ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife
laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird
populations, restores national significant fisheries, conserves and
restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments
with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid
program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise
taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife
agencies.